Sony Bravia 40inch LCD Asus laptop with no tv tuner but has an hdmi output Sky - not mysky

I would like to be able record sky tv and also be able to use windows media center to play music and view photos on my lcd. I would also like to be able to use a remote to be able to move around in the windows media center.

Does anyone have any recommendations ?

MY THOUGHTS

Get a usb tv tuner which takes in sky rca cords? which comes with a remote that i can use for windows media center

Ahh. I believe thats the oldest model (10+ years), and composite (RCAs) is the best quality you can get out of it. So it seems like you are on the right track, get a usb video capture device. Just steer clear of the 'easycap' ones (they look like a thumb drive with cables coming out of one end), afaik they offer less than SD quality input and a low framerate, so will look very poo on your TV.

I dont think there is any simple way to record stuff, you will just have to set the channel (or book a program) on the sky decoder and set the computer to record at the right time. There are seamless solutions, but these involve more work and better equipment

turneg01: i got sky installed 6 months ago so its not that old of a decoder :)

It certainly looks like an old decoder - I suspect you got a refurbished unit that someone else had previously had. Sky do this to people - that's why it's worth specifying decoder model as part of the install.

Regardless, without a mysky you are stuck with SD video. A USB video capture device is probably your best bet. Avoid the really budget ones, their quality can be nasty. If you aren't too budget constrained I recommend the Hauppauge HD PVR for circa $350. Will take composite and component inputs. Will also, with the subsequent addition of a cheapish HDMI->Conponent converter & HDCP stripper, allow you to capture HD video if you later upgrade to mysky. Plus, it comes with a remote,

Usually the SD Sky decoder will do S-video over SCART with the right converter. S-video is going to look much better than composite on just about anything. Many things that can record from composite can also record from S-video.

Not many devices can record HD over from YPbPr.

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